The owners of Lakewood Plaza have big renovation plans, but owe more delinquent property taxes than anyone else in the city.

The Sun Post-Herald reported that uncollected taxes for the Lakewood City School District rose from $3.8 million in early 2009 to $5.4 million at the close of 2009 collections. The article noted that delinquencies will probably still exceed $5 million when new figures are released next month.

Even though some of the tardy tax money was eventually captured – the school district’s treasurer indicated 50% of the $3.8 million amount was collected – these are big numbers with considerable consequences.

There are currently 432 parcels of land in the city with an accumulative total of about $1.8 million in delinquent property taxes, according to data provided last week by the Cuyahoga County Treasurer’s office.

The properties fall into a variety of different categories. In some cases, the property owners are on a repayment plan or are appealing the tax assessment. 30 of the properties are currently in foreclosure, and many others have been in foreclosure at one time or another.

The top 20 are:

One Lakewood Company owes about $160,000 on the two parcels of land that comprise Lakewood Plaza (sometimes called Drug Mart Plaza) at 15316 Detroit Ave., across from the Lakewood Public Library. They are on a payment plan.

Plans to extensively renovate the retail strip center and add a Quaker Steak & Lube were announced earlier this year.

Director of Planning and Development Nathan Kelly in February told city council that the project had some challenges. “It hasn’t been easy,” he said. “They want want to spend as little as possible.” Kelly said plaza management was  saddled with some unprofitable leases and was trying to shed them or wait them out.

MDN Investment Corp. owes $104,000 on the restaurant in The Carlyle that once housed Swingos.  The Plain Dealer reported in January that Ferris Steak House was going to take over the spot. The article says Bruce Ferris purchased the location for $255,000, but property records don’t support the claim.

In fact, the Carlyle Condo Association on June 3rd placed a $26,000 lien on the property, and named East 4th St, LLC as an owner — although that company doesn’t seem to own the property either, according to the Cuyahoga County Recorder’s Web site.

P & P Real Estate, the group that bought the old Giant Eagle on the corner Bunts and Detroit with the intention of building an Urban Active, owes $75,000 on the property. They also purchased a couple of houses immediately to the south of the property, one on Bunts and another on Parkhaven Row.

Both houses look ill-cared for and had delinquent taxes. Now, only the Parkhaven Row property tax is late — to the tune of $12,000.

A few property owners that have tangled with the city in court over the last couple of years are on the delinquent list. Joesph Falat owes a total of about $9,000 on separate homes in Birdtown. Oak Tree Manor on Bonnieview owes almost $24,500. Hidden Village on Clifton owes a little over $13,000. Both apartment buildings took on tenants receiving subsidized rent and ran into various confilcts.

There are a handful of buildings on the delinquent tax list that are tied to restaurants: Niko’s at 15621 Detroit ($19,264), Dianna’s Deli and Restaurant at 1332 W. 117th ($15,948), and Donatos  Pizza at 18100 Detroit ($18,930).

The complete list can be viewed here. (.PDF). Property taxes are next due on July 14th, so these numbers will soon change.

Believe it or not, the property taxes on this recently boarded-up and condemed housing complex on the corner of Lakewood and Franklin are current.

The Crime Calendar has been updated through June 23rd. Police were notified that the structure at 1549 Lakewood Ave. will be demolished. It had been home to some really shady characters, and was a neighborhood nuisance.  Here’s hoping that the vacant lot doesn’t draw more of the same kind of trouble.

Other notes:

Police were notified of copper pipe thefts at 1666 Elbur and 1292 Fry. Someone was also arrested trying to loot the Social Security building construction site at the corner of Roycroft and Detroit.

There was another report of an it’s-not-a-pit-bull-it’s-an-american-bull-dog situation. Sounds familiar.

If you take your car to get fixed at Calanni Auto Service on Madison, you may need a good lawyer. For the umpteenth time, somebody called the police because Calanni wouldn’t return their car. If it’s not one thing with this business, then it’s something else.

The crime calendar has been updated through June 15th. It includes mention of a police foot chase near the corner of Detroit Rd. and Clarence Ave., near the western edge of Mary Louise Madigan’s Fighting Fourth Ward.

At around 7:18 p.m. on Tuesday, June 15th an officer near the apartment buildings on Clarence, behind the new Lakewood Garden Center, contacted dispatch – probably because he located an automobile registered to a driver with an outstanding warrant.

Before dispatch could respond, the driver and an occupant of the car exited the vehicle and took off running. The driver bolted west, and then east towards Garfield Elementary School.  The passenger ran south on Grace.

Police quickly descended on the area and lassoed the car’s driver at 1366 Thoreau. The other party was taken into custody on Grace.

The car’s driver, who had prior convictions for drug trafficking, felonious assault, and resisting arrest, also had three arrest warrants with Euclid, and one with Rocky River for resisting arrest. He was found to be in possession of a lot of “dough,” and, apparently, some narcotics. He was charged with obstructing, driving under suspension, providing false information and felony drugs.

His passenger, a 24-year-old Cleveland male, was charged with obstructing. Neither party was the person registered to the car.

Listen to radio traffic of the event below, or download the .MP3. It has been edited for brevity.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The city is getting $306,700 more than it anticipated in federal community development block grant (CDBG) money for fiscal year 2010.

Overall, the city will receive a total of $2,406,701 in CDBG funds. The money is provided by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to assist the city in carrying out a wide range of community development activities, with an emphasis on activities that benefit low and moderate income people.

Cities with over 50,000 residents, like Lakewood, are eligible to receive CDBG dollars. In the event the city drops below the required threshold, it can still get funding, but it was to work through the county, where the results are not as certain. This is one reason why a good showing in the 2010 Census is especially crucial for the city.

Administrative recommendation

Lakewood’s director of planning and economic development met on May 20th with the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) — the group charged with making allocation recommendations to city council — and presented his suggestions on how to spend the additional $306,700.

He suggested the following levels of fund distribution:

$100,000 – Economic Development Fund (job creation for people of low to moderate income). This doubles the original allocation to $200,000.

$87,958.50 – Street Reconstruction. This is 17.8% greater than the original allocation for a new total of $581,366.

$50,000 – Commercial Revitalization (storefront program). Total funding for this program would be $150,000, a 50% increase.

$50,000 - Vacant Property Revitalization Program. This would double the total funding to $100,000.

$10,000 – Administration for Planning and Development Dept. Funding would increase 2.4%  for a total of $430,000.

$5,000 – Madison Park Improvements. A 20% increase for a new total of $30,000.

$3,742.50 - YMCA Section 108 Obligation. A 6.8% increase  for a new total of $58,742.50.

Human service offerings like the yard service program and case management services for older adults are not eligible to receive any loot because their allocations are capped at 15% of the overall sum.

One-time paint program

The director of planning and economic development also suggested to the CAC that roughly $30,000 in leftover funds from various extinct programs be channeled to create a one-time only exterior paint program.

Modeled after a similar deal in Cleveland, vouchers would be awarded to income eligible residents whose homes or garages need a paint job and have already run into trouble with the city or are at risk of being cited.

For some reason, though, the city isn’t capable of administering the program themselves, and would hand it off to LakewoodAlive, which would collect a modest administrative fee.

Check out the director’s letter to the CAC outlining his funding recommendations (.PDF).

See the CDBG funding requests versus actual allocations (.PDF).

View the original funding applications.

Council must approve the final allocations; they usually follow the CAC’s recommendations.

And get ready, the city is now accepting CDBG applications for next year.

Roughly 75% of Lakewood’s registered voters skipped the May 4^th primary election, according to official election results released on May 25 by the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.

9,784 residents voted, more than the 5,430 folks who voted in the September 2009 primary election, but fewer than the 13,839 people who participated in the November 2009 general election. In comparison, 26,557 Lakewood citizens voted in the 2008 presidential general election.

The percentages of voter turn-out by ward precinct – the total number of actual voters versus the total number of people who were registered to vote but did not – mirrored those of the November 2009 general election.

Here's a map depicting the percentage of registered voter turn-out at the ward precinct level for the May 2010 primary election. Click on the image for a larger view.

Of the city’s 41 precincts, those with the greatest percentage of turnout were mostly concentrated north of Detroit Ave., largely along the Lake Erie shore. Precincts 3-A (between Nicholson and Belle) and 1-H (Clifton Park) had the highest percentages of participation at 39.1% and 36.2%, respectively.

Alternatively, with the exception of a couple of Gold Coast precincts, residents of Ward 4 had the most dismal results. Precincts 4-E (between W 117th and Cove) and 4-G (the eastern half of Birdtown, plus Ridgewood, south of Franklin to West 117th) had the lowest rates at 10.2%  and 11.9%, respectively. (Don’t know your precinct? Check here.)

The voter registration list is regularly purged of the names of people who are deceased, have relocated to another county, or have not voted in a number of years. However, it still contains enough inactive names that it makes sense to take a look at the raw participation numbers – how many people voted, and in what precinct – to get a clearer picture of how things went down on Election Day.

Here's a map depicting the total number of active voters per ward precinct in the May 2010 primary election. Click on the image for a larger view.

What precincts had the greatest number of voters? Four of the top 11 precincts were located in Ward 1. But the three most active precincts were 3-A (between Nicholson and Belle), 1-J (Maple Cliff to Webb), and 2-A (Lakewood Park to Erie Cliff) with 385, 359, and 348 voters, respectively.

How about the precincts with the lowest number of voters? Three of the four least active precincts were located in Ward 4. Precincts 4-E, 4-G, and 4-K — all along West 117^th – had 87, 107, and 128 voters, respectively. Precincts 1-F and 1-G, which includes all of those apartment buildings in the West End, had another disappointing turn-out with just 125 and 166 voters, respectively.

Weeks before the election, the city revised their gateway signage to send a subtle message to voters about the school levy issue.

The Lakewood City School District tax levy was the most important ballot item to a majority of voters. As evidence, only 133 people submitted ballots without making a choice on the issue. In comparison, the race between two Lakewood city council members for a seat in the Ohio House of Representatives drew 1,128 ballots without a selection.

Even in the midst of the worst economy in decades, residents overwhelmingly approved the property tax levy by a surprisingly large margin of 5,851 (60.62%) to 3,801 (39.38%).

Here's a map depicting the difference in the number of votes each ward precinct cast for the school levy in the May 2010 primary election. Click on the image for a larger view.

The issue received generally strong support throughout most of the city. It passed in all but one precinct, 4-H, home of Harrison Elementary School, where 36 more citizens voted against it than voted for it. Several northern precincts delivered victories of more than 100 votes each. Southwestern precinct 1-B also topped the 100 vote barrier.

Having approved this operating levy, will voters again be charitable in the not-so-distant future when the school system asks for more money to complete their on-going construction projects? Based on the results from this election, it would a shocker if they were not, though a wildcard could be the thousands of apathetic voters who sat this election out.

At face value, the race between Councilperson Thomas Bullock (Ward 2) and Councilperson Nickie Antonio (At-Large) in the Democratic primary for the Ohio House of Representatives (District 13) seemed like a big time mismatch between one candidate who is better-known and well-financed and another candidate who is much lesser-known and far less well-financed.

Even though Antonio beat Bullock 4,257 (54%) to 3,624 (46%) and will be unopposed in the general election thereby guaranteeing her ascension to the Statehouse in Columbus,  the fact that Bullock earned as many votes as he did begs the question, where the heck did those votes come from?

Here's a map depicting the Lakewood ward precincts Antonio and Bullock won in the May 2010 primary election. Click on the image for a larger view.

Antonio, the second term councilperson and leading vote-getter in the November 2009 race among a field of six, captured 36 of the city’s 41 precincts. She got a big boost from the northern precincts, especially the Gold Coast. She also received very solid support from Precinct 3-F which is bordered by Franklin and Detroit on the south and north and Robinwood and Clarence on the west and east.

Bullock, the first term councilperson who squeaked into office by fewer than a hundred votes in a close 2007 election,  captured just one precinct in each ward, with the exception of Ward 1 where he narrowly won two precincts. He showed best in precinct 2-E, which is bordered by Detroit to the north, Madison to the south, Woodward to the west, and Westwood to the east.

Here's a map depicting the Cleveland ward precincts Antonio and Bullock won in the May 2010 primary election. Click on the image for a larger view.

It’s hard to believe, but the majority of Cleveland precincts east of West 117th in State District 13 are part of Tom Bullock country. True, Antonio captured some northern and coastal precincts,  but Bullock owned just about everything else.  Who would have guessed Nickie Antonio’s magic doesn’t extend much past West 117th? Nothing is certain in politics, but maybe there’s a brighter future for Bullock in Cleveland, rather than Lakewood.

Brother, can you spare a dime — or $24,800?

And as an amusing aside, campaign finance reports show Antonio spent a total of about $51,094 on her campaign. Bullock spent around $48,721 – including a $24,800 loan he made to his own campaign.

It’s a bit crazy to see how much money was dropped on these political efforts when only 9,784 people turned-out, more than 1,000 of whom didn’t even vote for either candidate.

One more note of curiosity

The board of elections didn’t have detailed voter records available for the May 2010 primary, but relying on data complied just after the next most recent election, here’s a break-down of the top 20 years of birth for Lakewood voters who participated in the November 2009 general election. People born in the 1950s are very active. Residents born in the 1970s, by comparison, are virtually invisible.

The city's police surveillance network will expand to include City Center Park and possibly other Downtown Lakewood locations. Cameras at Madison Park, like the one pictured above, have been credited with catching criminals red-handed.

Quick, make a list of the top three areas in the city that might benefit from the installation of police surveillance cameras.

Is City Center Park (formerly Sinagra Park) or Downtown Lakewood on your list? Probably not.

Well, Lakewood Police Chief Timothy Malley believes otherwise. He told Lakewood City Council on Monday that he expects to utilize a $20,000 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant to place surveillance cameras in City Center Park and the downtown district. He was uncertain how many cameras the grant would cover, and hinted at a possible public-private partnership to fund acquisition of additional cameras as needed.

Malley pointed to the effectiveness of the security camera array at Madison Park, noting that just prior to the council meeting three juveniles had been caught smoking an illegal substance near the pool after being spotted on camera.

Euclid ($34,000), Garfield Hts. ($24,000) and Parma ($21,000) are the other suburbs receiving federal grant money. Garfield Hts. will spend its share to acquire equipment for their detective unit. Euclid and Parma expect to put their money toward a regional computer aided dispatch (CAD) system in partnership with Cleveland to increase information sharing and cross-agency communication. See the grant application (.PDF).

Is Lakewood putting its $20,000 to the best possible use? Council thought so, unanimously approving Malley’s request without any critical debate.

Dog park lawsuit update

Several members of the citizens group overseeing Lakewood’s dog park were present to read testimonials of support regarding their three-year-old conflict with the City of Rocky River and some of its residents over the park’s noise level.

The lawsuit is set for trial on July 8th, but there are efforts to avert it. ”We are trying to settle it,” said Mayor Edward O. FitzGerald, who has been in discussions with Rocky River’s mayor and the case’s presiding judge — each of whom want to find a compromise and avoid trial.

FitzGerald said a key portion of the conversations revolve around how best to mitigate noise generated by the dog park and who should pay for it. He said Rocky River’s mayor has taken the position that if the noise problem can’t be abated, then the park must permanently close.

If the sentiments expressed in prior news accounts of the situation still hold true, the four Rocky River residents who are co-plaintiffs in the lawsuit might force a courtroom trial by taking a hardline approach against any pretrial compromise that keeps the dog park open.

“We’re preparing for both eventualities,” said FitzGerald, and mentioned that Rocky River’s assistant law director has a “very long list” of people to depose.

One Lakewood city employee who empathizes with the folks who reside within barking distance of the park was recently heard to say half-jokingly, ”If I lived on the ridge, I’d want to kill everyone” because of the continuous, but not necessarily loud barking.

Solar special improvement district

Lakewood is working with several other inner-ring suburbs and the City of Cleveland to create a program to provide low-cost financing to residents who want to add solar technology to their homes.

Councilperson Thomas Bullock (Ward 2) introduced legislation that would allow the city to participate in the program.

Basically, the cities are getting together to form a special improvement district (SID) which will allow their residents to access affordable financing backed by the Port of Cleveland for solar-related projects.

So, say you purchase a $40,000 solar panel system to power your home. Federal and state incentives and rebates might knock your actual  out-of-pocket cost down to $12,000.  By participating in the solar SID, you can borrow the money at a low interest rate and pay it back over as many as 25 years as an add-on to your property tax bill.

There lots of other details, but that’s the gist of it. It’s an interesting program, although it’s hard to predict what kind of success it will have. The politicians already love it. Its green-ness is tailor-made for their glossy campaign material. Mayor FitzGerald, for one, was particularly effusive with praise:

“I think this is really important.”

“It has enormous, enormous potential.”

“It helps brand Lakewood as an innovative community.”

Sell, sell, sell

Council gave unanimous approval to an ordinance permitting the director of planning and development to sell the city-owned properties at 1667 Waterbury, 2070 Dowd, 2107 Robin, 1482-84 West 117th, 13736 Madison, 1301 Cranford, 1297 Cranford, 1269 Westlake, 1598 Wyandotte, and 1383 Sloane. Some of these properties will be rehabbed, others will be demolished.

True to their modus operandi, there was no discussion on the subject, nor was there a single question posed when the topic came up at the Housing Committee meeting when Monique Smith (At-Large), Mary Louise Madigan (Ward 4), and Michael Summers (Ward 3) were in attendance.

$3 bike helmets available at upcoming bike rodeo

Director of Human Services Dorothy Buckon announced that bicycle helmets costing just $3 will be available for sale to young Lakewood residents between the ages of 6 and 10 years old at the June 12th bike rodeo scheduled to take place at Madison Park.

Council gave permission to Chief Malley to donate 10 bicycles from the police property room to be used as prizes at the event.

Liquor license transfers

The city hasn’t been afraid to raise statutory objections to liquor license transfers when businesses behave badly.

A couple of months ago, for instance, it tried to block a transfer at the Richland Cafe. The cafe had a gambling machine despite being told it was illegal and had to be removed. The city dropped the objection after management at the cafe signed an agreement promising it would cut out the funny business. See a copy of the agreement (.PDF).

More recently at their May 17th meeting, they voted to object to a transfer at China Gardens because one of their employees had an extensive rap sheet that included cocaine trafficking from the restaurant.

Council didn’t take action at their Monday meeting on transfers for either Deagan’s Kitchen and Bar (opening in the First Federal of Lakewood building, where Crazy Rita’s once was) or Put-In-Bay Lakewood because the police and law departments were still in the process of conducting their reviews. It will be interesting to see if Put-In-Bay slips through without an objection. They’ve had more than a few issues there in the last year.

The council meeting lasted a little over an hour and a half, and was attended by about 25 people.  To see what else was discussed, check out the docket (.PDF).